Economy

SAN DIEGO--The acquiring industry is apparently dropping its “wait and see” attitude toward Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that’s becoming increasingly respectable. That goes for some other digital currencies, too.

SAN DIEGO—Big data can combine information from a variety of sources to tip off Independent sales organizations when their merchant clients are preparing to leave for another transaction-services provider.

SAN DIEGO—Apple and Samsung joined the Electronic Transactions Association this week, providing further evidence that the acquiring industry’s trade group is welcoming technology companies as members.

Apple and Samsung joined the Electronic Transactions Association this week, furthering the acquiring industry trade group's efforts to welcome technology companies as members.

PayPal is on track to handle 1 billion mobile transactions this year, but the company can't yet say it will benefit from the imminent launch of Apple Pay.

The merchants and issuers invested in Apple Pay must maintain a strong emphasis on employee education — especially if the stakeholders want Apple's mobile wallet to avoid the fate of the many previous payment technologies that sought to displace plastic cards.

PALM BEACH, Fla.—Hardly anyone at last week’s gathering of acquiring executives could utter a sentence without the phrase "Apple Pay."

PALM BEACH, Fla.—Handling transactions seems secondary for the tech giants now entering the payments industry, says Diane Offereins, Discover Financial Services executive vice president—payments.

PALM BEACH, Fla.—Few at the Electronic Transaction Association's Strategic Leadership Forum would deny Apple Pay could help prepare the nation for mobile payments and rescue Near Field Communication from obscurity.

A future where consumers make payments with wearable devices is not far off, especially in Spain where CaixaBank is working with Gemalto to launch a contactless EMV payment wristband.

Square's diversification strategy has landed in coffee shops, as the company has upgraded an application that uses location-sensing technology to more closely match pre-order preparation with consumer arrival.

The introduction of Apple Pay as a mobile wallet competitor illustrates that the payments landscape calls for partnerships and collaboration, rather than a “winner take all” mentality.

The House Oversight Committee has turned its focus to the role of the Federal Trade Commission in the Operation Choke Point.

ISOs and agents are perpetually seeking new value-added products and services that can generate profit and foster differentiation, and three possibilities have come to light recently.

Chase is working with Apple to vet potential developers and merchants after more than 500 people attended and responded to Chase's two live webinars about its three Apple Pay developer labs in Columbus, Ohio, Tampa, Fla., and San Francisco, Calif.

Facebook's peer-to-peer (P2P) transfer app is currently only a screen grab circulating around Silicon Valley, but payments companies should brace for a series of competitive apps from the social network, according to industry experts.

With the coming split from eBay, PayPal is poised to become one of the new leaders challenging the plastic card and magnetic stripe hegemony.

GoDaddy is partnering with online payments provider Stripe to entice small businesses to embrace e-commerce by adding faster credit approval and card acceptance.

EBay and PayPal were once rivals, but in 2002 they joined to become a single company. Since then, PayPal has worked to move beyond the confines of its parent's online auction site. It is now well prepared for its planned spinoff.